Cheeky wines from Maison Ventenac
Cork Talk by Colin Harkness
The antithesis of orthodoxy, Maison Ventenac prefers a nonconformist approach to wine making. Having tasted a few wines in their impressive portfolio I’m all in favour (please visit https://www.colinharknessonwine.com/inspiringwines-from-south-west-france/ #more-', where you’ll see they’ve even named a wine after me!)
Stéphanie and Olivier Ramé are quoted thus in their press release:
“We decided to break away from marketing conventions which speak of everything bar the wine, flavour and vineyard sites, in favour of a more recognisable persona. We are not estate agents, but winemakers, and we are not laying a claim to aristocratic roots we don’t have, even by a long stretch of the imagination. Why would owning a chateau make us good winegrowers?”
Well, as I said in the article above that certainly piques my interest!
We are talking French wines here, as you’ve probably guessed. Most, though certainly not all of my experience is with Spanish wines as you’ll know. I’m a great believer in the wines of my adoptive home – I’ve written well over a million words about them in the last 23 years. However, I’m first and foremost a wine lover – so I’m always delighted to try wines from other countries. And let’s be honest, French wines come with a pretty good pedigree, and history.
So, as is the case with so many wineries here in Spain, I’d like to think that this break from conformity, this dissidence (the name of the range of wines I’m talking about here and above), is also allied with a sound understanding and implementation of the best parts of the wine makers’ French heritage. To be able to add innovation to the foundation of tradition and build using those two pillars surely has to be the way forward. I know it is in Spain, and I’m certain it is here too. The wines are the proof of the alliance!
It’s still the month of rosé wines (as June sees International Rosé Wine Day, though I drink rosado all year round) and I’ve tasted some crackers. One of my favourites was La Culottée (the Cheeky Girl!) from Maison Ventenac.
Made with Cabernet Sauvignon and, although quite pale, it’s one of those rosé wines that is going to suit red wine drinkers – well, those who lift the glass to their lips with an open mind! I’m afraid I still hear people decrying rosé sticking with their favourite reds even though the rosés are made with the same varieties, just in a different style. I think a lot of is machismo – daft to me, but hey!
It’s elegant, yet fun a wine to really enjoy as an aperitif, for sure, but it has the presence on the palate to make it food friendly too. Yes, of course, fish and seafood, particularly for me that with similar colours, prawns, lobster, salmon, trout and so on. However, it has sufficient weight to match some lighter meat dishes too, chicken for example as well as a range of mildly spiced Asian and SE Asian dishes, along with examples of fusion food too.
Candide, along with the whole Dissidents range also has the distinctive label, attractive in its simplicity, is made with Chenin Blanc. Some of us think first South Africa, when Chenin is mentioned as South African winemakers seem to have adopted this native French variety and made it their own. It’s a variety that fascinates me. Not easily found in Spain it has attractive apple and green plum aromas and flavour, in this case, with some minerality probably coming from the limestone soils in which the vines grow and where they are clearly at home! I found also some blanched almonds on the nose, adding to what is a very pleasant white wine!
Finally, their red wine, Puritaine, is made from Syrah. I quite often laud Spanish wines made from the French variety, Syrah. In Spain there is guaranteed sunshine, where there isn’t at times in France. Here, therefore, I think we have the perfect combination between good fruit, because of the sunshine and yet Spanish Syrah is also able to maintain that black olive and black pepper spice.
The combination is often sensational.
Well, Puritaine has the benefit of being grown in South West France, which, ok it isn’t Spain but it still has enough sunshine hours – if this juicy red is anything to go by! There’s a certain leafiness to go along with the plum and blackberry fruit and minerality too, just to let us know it’s fun, but serious wine too!
There’s a wide range other wines apart from the Dissidents, and I’d recommend you do some experimenting!
ttp://maisonventenac.fr/en
PS: My next Wine Show on www.valleyfm.es is Saturday 4th July, 12 Noon – 1 PM. Great music, wine and chat – please join me!
colin@colinharknessonwine.com
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